MEPL provides Design Management Services through its partner company “Excelize”  (see www.excelize.com).

As the new economy alters lifestyles, enhances spending power and encourages aspirational living, developers are constantly pushing the envelope. As a result, concepts like residential colonies, commercial complexes and industrial estates are passé, and high-end residential complexes, malls and mega retail outlets, integrated townships, Special Economic Zones and Software Parks now rule the urban landscape.

Hence, the pressure to incorporate new and modern design elements is greater than ever, and global Goliaths as well as leading Indian builders are increasingly looking for futuristic answers to both structural and design challenges.

Where an architect and a civil engineer were once all a developer needed to design and execute a project, it now takes a plethora of specialised professionals and their services to piece together any mega project.

But most developers are unable to handle the mind-boggling logistics this entails and are looking for a solution to the potential pre-construction chaos.

Industry experts have therefore come up with a groundbreaking and integrated solution to the complex demands of modern-day development. It's called Design Management Services (DMS).

DMS has traditionally been used in the information technology industry and manufacturing sectors. It is still relatively new to the real estate industry. But as more and more developers adopt this state-of-the-art, process-driven business model, it is evolving globally.

As India keeps abreast of international standards, DMS has considerable potential in the current domestic market. This market is growing by 30% annually and is estimated to be worth $90 billion by 2015. Design Management Services are, in fact, the answer for developers determined to meet the design challenges of the 21st century.

DMS focuses on five key areas: design coordination; Design management and tracking; design localisation; design documentation; and Building Information Modeling (BIM).